Absorbent articles including a liquid discharge sensor are known in the art. One example prior art arrangement is provided in Australian patent publication AU-B-63393/94. The sensor of this prior art document is provided in the form of a pair of spaced electrically conductive strips mounted on a length of insulating material. The strips are suitably positioned within the absorbent article to be conductively bridged and thereby short-circuited by a wetting of an absorbent pad into which the band has been inserted. Conductivity between the first and second strips is substantially zero when the absorbent pad is dry, but increases sharply when moistened by a liquid discharge event. The sensor is thus disclosed to act as a switch to indicate when a liquid discharge event has occurred.
It may be of interest to learn the extent of spread in the absorbent pad of the liquid discharge, for example so as to analyse the absorbency performance of the absorbent article. It may be further desirable to provide a means for verifying that the liquid discharge sensor is functioning properly, i.e. that there are no breaks along the conductive strip.